MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - Some federal lawmakers want to stop the sale of New York's Plum Island, home to the only national government laboratory studying diseases harmful to livestock and other animals.
Congress voted in 2009 to close the aging lab and move operations to Kansas State University. President Barack Obama's latest budget includes $714 million for the project, and Kansas officials are selling bonds to pay for the new lab.
But lawmakers from New York and Connecticut announced legislation Tuesday to stop the sale, saying it is unnecessary and uneconomical, and the island lab is worth preserving.
"Plum Island is one of the natural treasures of the Northeast," said Rep. Timothy Bishop, a Democrat whose eastern Long Island district includes the island.
"My bill would eliminate the wrongheaded requirement that it be sold into private hands for a fraction of its true value to our nation," Bishop said.
The bill is co-sponsored by Republican Rep. Michael Grimm of Staten Island and Democratic Rep. Joe Courtney of Connecticut. Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut is sponsoring similar legislation.
Plum Island scientists research pathogens like foot-and-mouth disease, which is highly contagious to livestock and could cause catastrophic economic losses and imperil the nation's food supply.
Besides the modern laboratory that resembles a college facility, the island features the remnants of a U.S. Army base first operated during the Spanish-American War and closed in the early 1950s. Gun batteries and parade grounds and barracks remain more than a half-century later.
Security on the island consists of armed patrols, checkpoints, cameras, radar, locks and fences; it is operated under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security, which is expected to remain on the island until the property is sold.